Napping machine



Aug. 9, 1938. H. FLEISHER 2,126,629

NAPPING MACHINE .Filed July so, 1956 2 Sheets$hct 1 INVENTOR Harry.Fleisher A TTURNEY Aug. 9, 1938. sH 2,126,629

NAPPING MACHINE Filed. July 30, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HarryFleisher A TTORIJI:

Patented Aug. 9, 1938 .11...

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NAPPING MACHINE Harry Fleisher, Watertown,Conn assignor to Princeton, Inc., Watertown, Conn., a oorpora-- tion ofConnecticut 1 Application July 30, 1936, serial N sasa 19Claims. (01.66147) This invention relates to knitted fabrics, and frame In. 'A'sinker-bed I5 is suitably supported more particularly to an attachmentto a circular by brackets (not shown) above the frame Ill and knittingmachine for napping a tubular knitted carries a series of sinkers I6 forcooperating with fabric produced therein. the needles I3 in thecustomary manner.

5 One object of this invention is to provide a In order to support theusual spool guides and 5 napping device of the above nature whichisprootherparts of the machine in an elevated posivided with a pluralityof napping discs which are tion, provis on s a e of a P Of pp scircumferentially spaced around the tubular spaced vertical posts I! andI8, which are deknitted fabric, and adapted to be rotated inoptachably'secured at their lower ends to the frame posite directions sothat their fiat end faces. will n, a byh law The ppe ends of the posts10 engage the interior surface of said fabric for IT a d ar a e as y u sWithin a producing a novel circular twisted nap effect P Of tubule!bosses Which are integrally thereon. formed at the opposite ends of anoverhead cross A further object is to provide a napping device beam 2!Supported y Said pests H and of the above nature having, in addition tothe Th central portion of ss am 2 s 15 rotating napping discs, anon-rotating napping formed with a relatively large tubular boss 22 discand a rotating napping wheel, located at in which s rigidly held, a ymeans of a set spaced intervals around the periphery of the screw 23, al r v r i l ppo rod 2 posiknitting machine. tioned concentrically withrespect to the tubular A still further object is toprovide a nappingfabric produced by the knitting machine and 20 device of the abovenature which will be simple a p d to f m s pp r the l v p r inconstruction, inexpensive to manufacture, o the e smwhich will producean attractive and ornamental s best shown in l e fabric 25 Whic s nap onthe knitted fabric, and which wi11 b knitted by the circular row ofneedles I3 is drawn 25 durable and efficient in use. downwardly throughthe hollow interior of the 25 With these and other objects in view,there t g needle cylinder and rolled p 0h have been illustrated on theaccompanying drawtab e drum at the base of the machine y ings two formsin which the invention may be sui l mechanism; not shOWn- AS the tubularconveniently embodied in practice. fabric 25 passes downwardly th u theme- In the drawings: chine, it is held in cylindrical form by means of30 Fig. 1 represents a front elevation, partly in a pair of upp and10We1 horizontal ar section, of a circular knitting machine upon uiderings 25 and 21 Which are adapted which the improved napping mechanismhas been ease the interior surface of said knitted fabric. installed.The upper ring 26 is preferably held stationary Fig. 2 is a horizontaltransverse sectional view by means f a pair of radial flat bars 28formed 35 of the same, the View being taken along the line i t a W aCentral tubular hub 29 just- 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking downwardly. ablysecured on the central rod 24, as by a set Fig. 3 is a fragmentary leftside view of the screw 30, the extremities of said bars 28 being rotarynapping wheel positioned at the rear of made secure to said ring 26. v

the machine, as viewed in Fig. 2. i The lower guide ring 21 is securedto a cross 40 Fig. 4 is a fragmentary left side View of the bar 3I,,theintermediate portion of which is apstationary napping disc which islocated at the ertured for loosely embracing the support rod front ofthe machine. '1: 24, {Ifhe crossbar 3| is freeto rotate between Fig. 5is a front elevation of a modified form a pair of rigid space d collars32, 32 secured to of driving mechanism arranged to rotate the said rod24, as by. set :screws 33,33. It will thus 5 rotary napping discs in thesame direction. bev seen that the lower guide ring 21 will be al-Referring now to the drawings in which like lowed to rotate with thetubular fabric within reference numerals denote corresponding partswhich said ringis tightly and frictionally enthroughout the severalviews, the numeral I 0 ingaged. v i

dicates the main frame of the circular knitting Napping mechanism 50machine, said frame supporting. a stationary an- 7 I nular member IIcarrying a plurality of cams T napping O e tubular knitted fabric, as it[2 which are designed to raise and lower a se-- p s w throu t ac n isaccomries of vertical knitting needles l3 disposed plished on the innersurface thereof by means of around a rotary cylinder I4,located withinsaid two rotating flat disc brushes 34, 35, a non-rotat- 55 thestationary arms 42.

ing fiat smoothing" disc brush 8|, and an auxiliary rotating wheel brush69, all of said rotary napping brushes being located substantially in asingle horizontal plane midway between the guide rings 26 and 21, andsaid non-rotating napping brush being carried by one of the upper guidering cross bars 28.

The pair of rotating flat disc brushes 34 and 35 are preferably providedwith a multiplicity of short bristles set in square shaped blocks 36 and31. disc brushes 34 and 35 are seated in a pair of channel shapedholders 38 and detachably retained therein by small set screws 39. Theblock holders 38 are in turn attached to the outer opposite faces of apair of small sheaves 40 and 4| loosely mounted independently of eachother on the outer ends of a pair of axially'adjustable nonrotating arms42 which are threaded at their inner ends. The sheaves 4|] and 4| areprovided with enlarged inwardly extending hubs 43, within which are apair of outer ball bearing raceways 44,

surrounding a pair of cooperating inner raceways 44a rigidly mounted onthe reduced ends 42g, of The radial arms 42' are adjustably mounted in apair of tapped opposed tubular members 45 extending outwardly onopposite sides of the vertical support rod 24 from a hub 46 which isadapted to be held in vertically adjusted position on said rod 24 bymeans of a set screw 41. The tapped members 45 are adapted to receivethe threaded inner ends of the arms 42.

In order to manually twist the radial shafts 42 and also serve toindicate the adjustment of the napping brushes 34 and 35, provision ismade of a pair of pins 48 passing transversely through intermediatesections of said arms 42. The arms 42 are adapted to be locked securelyin any desired adjusted positions by means of a pair of locking nuts 49.The axial adjustment of the radial arms 42 determines the pressureexerted by the rotating brushes 34 and 35 against the inner surface ofthe knitted fabric 25 to be napped.

In order to cause the fabric 25 to be held tightly against the flatworking areas of the rotating disc brushes 34 and 35, provision is madeof a pair of inwardly-convex elongated flat leaf springs .50, which areadapted to engage the fabric just below the brushes 34 and 35, causingsaid fabric to be slightly bulged inwardly, as shown in Fig. 1. The leafsprings 50 are supported at their fixed ends by flat horizontal plateswhich are adapted to be fitted upon the lower threaded ends of a pair ofvertical studs 52 (only one stud being herein shown) depending from theunder surface of the knitting machine frame In. The plates 5| are heldin any desired vertical adjusted position on said studs by a pair ofopposed nuts 53.

Driving mechanism In order to continuously rotate the napping brushes toproduce a twisting inclined napping action upon the interior of thetraveling knitted fabric, provision is made of an elevated horizontaldriving shaft 54 located above the knitting and napping mechanism andhaving its left-hand end journaled in an upper enlarged end 55 of anangular bracket 56, said bracket being heldadjustably on the verticalrod 24, as by a set screw 51. The opposite right-hand end of the shaft54 is journaled in. another bracket (not shown), which may be readilyattached tov any convenient stationary part of the knitting machine. Athrust collar 58 engages the outer face of the enlarged end 55 of thebracket 56 to prevent the driving The blocks 36 and 31 of the flatnapping shaft 54 from sliding to the right, as viewed in Fig. l. Theshaft 54 is driven by means of a pair of meshing beveled gears 59 and60, the gear 60 receiving power from any suitable source, not shown.

As shown in Fig. l, the horizontal driving shaft 54 passes directlythrough the axis of the vertical support rod 24, the upper part of saidsupport rod 24 being separated by a space 6| from the lower partthereof. In order to connect the upper and lower parts of said rod 24,provision is made of a tubular sleeve 62 which is detachably locked inposition thereon by means of a pair of set screws 63, 63a. A pair oftransverse openings 64 are provided in the sleeve 62 for looselyaccommodating the drive shaft 54 which passes therethrough.

A pair of relatively large pulley sheaves 65 and 66 are made rigid tothe driving shaft 54, and are preferably equally spaced from thevertical rod 24. The sheaves 65 and 66 are connected by belts 61 and 68with the sheaves 46 and 4|, respectively, of the rotary napping brushes34 and 35. The lefthand belt 61, as shown in Fig. 1, is crossed so thatthe brushes 34 and 35 will be caused to rotate in opposite directions,and thereby produce a more effective twisting napping upon the fabric 25as the latter moves downwardly and rotates past said brushes in ahelical manner.

In order to produce a vertical napping of the fabric 25 in addition tothe rotary napping produced by the brushes 34 and 35, provision is madeof a thin brush 69 having a cylindrical napping surface and rotating ina vertical plane, said brush 69 being hereinafter referred to as theauxiliary brush. As best shown in Fig. 2, this auxiliary brush 69 ismounted on a horizontal stub spindle rigidly secured to a hollow hub 1|,the latter having an integral sheave 12 and being mounted by means ofball bearings 13 upon a stationary axle 14 projecting from the outerface of an angular bracket 14a. The angular bracket is adjustablysupported on the outer threaded end of a horizontal support bar and isretained in adjusted position thereon by a pair of opposed looking nuts16, 16. The opposite end of the support bar 15 is threadedly engaged inan apertured rectangular block 11 adjustably fitted over the right-handmember 45 of the hub 46 and locked in position, as by a set screw 18.

The auxiliary wheel brush 69 is driven by means of a. belt 19 engagingthe sheave 12, similar to the sheaves 40 and 4| and passing over a largesheave 80 (similar to sheaves 65 and 66) rigid on the driving shaft 54and located adjacent the sleeve 62 of the support rod 24. the auxiliarybrush 69 is adapted to rotate in such a direction as to cause itsperipheral surface to travel downwardly rapidly in the same direction asthe slow movement of the knitted fabric 25. It is within the spirit andscope of the present invention, however, to rotate the auxiliary wheelin the opposite direction if desired.

Smoothing-out brush The stationary disc brush 8| is attached to thedownwardly offset end 82 of a strap bracket 83 secured to. the undersideof the cross bar 28 by means of a pair of bolts 84', 84. The offset end82 extends downwardly to a position where the attached brush 8| willengage the fabric just below the working plane of the rotary brushes 34and 35 and the auxiliary brush 69,

and serves to smooth out the nap raised on the As shown in Fig. 3,

fabric by said rotary brushes. The strap bracket 83 is provided with anelongatedslot 85 through which the bolts 84 pass, which constructionpermits adjustment of said bracket 83 with respect to saidcross bar 28,whereby the smoothing brush 9| may be heldagainst the fabric 25 with anydesired pressure.

Modified form of napping device In case it is desired to rotate the discnapping brushes in the same direction by employing only a single belt,the form of the invention shown in Fig. 5 may be employed. In this form,the main support rod 24' will be also separated at a point 86 betweenthe napping brush discs, and the adjacent ends of said rod 24' will bejoined by a hollow T-member 81 having a vertical sleeve 81a and setscrews 88 passing therethrough into engagement with the adjacent ends ofsaid rod. The T-member 81 is also privided with horizontal opposedtubular sleeves 89 terminating in enlarged ends 99. In this form of theinvention, a horizontal spindle shaft 9| passes through the space 86 andfits loosely within the horizontal sleeves 89. The outer ends of saidshaft 9| are journaled in ball bearing mountings 92, 92 carried by theenlarged ends 90, 99 of said hollow T-member 81.

The outer ends of the horizontal shaft 9| are threaded and adapted toadjustably receive a pair of tapped hubs 93, 93 formed integral with apair of channel blocks 94, 94, which are adapted to detachably hold thebrushes 34' and A pair of locking nuts 95 are provided for securing thehubs 93, 93 in adjusted positions upon the opposite ends of the spindle9!. The spindle shaft 9| is adapted to be rotated by means of a singlesheave 99 secured to said shaft 9| and driven by a belt 91 which in turnpasses over a large sheave (not shown) keyed to the elevated drivingshaft 54.

While there have been disclosed in this specification two forms in whichthe invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that these formsare shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the inventionis not to be limited to the specific disclosures but may be modified andembodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all the modifications and embodimentscoming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, andfor which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In a combined knitting and napping ma chine, mechanism for knitting atubular fabric, means for interiorly supporting said fabric at a pair ofspaced circumferential lines, and interior rotating flat-faced nappingdisc located between said supporting means, and means for causing theflat face of said disc to contact with said fabric.

2. In a napping machine, means for interiorly supporting a tubularfabric along a pair of spaced lines, an interior rotating flat-facednapping disc with an outwardly extending napping surface on its flatface located between said supporting means, and means to cause the flatface of said disc to engage and nap the interior surface of said fabric.

3. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a rotating fiat-ended member havingnapping means on its flat end surface, and resilient means pressinginwardly upon said fabric to cause said member to engage the interiorsurface of said tubular fabric along a flat area thereof.

4. In a napping apparatus, means for continuously delivering a slowlyrotating tubular knitted fabric, a rotating napping member having a flatface located within the circular path of said tubular fabric, and meanson the exterior of said fabric to resiliently press upon a portion ofsaid fabric to cause a fiat area of said fabric to contact with the flatnapping face of said member.

5. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a pair of rotating members having fiatnapping end faces, and resilient means pressing inwardly upon saidfabric to cause the napping faces of said members to engage the interiorsurface of said tubular fabric along a pair of separated flat areasthereof.

6. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a plurality of rotating members havingflat napping end surfaces located within said fabric, and resilientinwardly pressing exterior means for pressing corresponding flat areasof the interior surface of said fabric against said rotating members toproduce an inclined napped effect thereon.

7. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a pair of rotating members having flatnapping end faces, and resilient means outside said fabric to cause thenapping faces of said members to engage the interior surface of saidtubular fabric along a pair of separated flat areas thereof, and meansto rotate said discs in opposite directions.

8. In an apparatus for napping the interior sur face of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a pair of rotating members having flatnapping end faces, exterior means pressing inwardly upon said fabric tocause the napping faces of said members to engage the interior surfaceof said tubular fabric along a pair of separated fiat areas thereof andproduce an inclined napping effect, and a non-rotating napping memberspaced from said rotating members for smoothly brushing the nappedsurface of said fabric. I

9. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a pair of rotating brushes having flatnapping end faces, exterior means inwardly pressing on said fabric tocause the napping faces of said brushes to engage the interior surfaceof said tubular fabric along a pair of separated flat areas thereof, anda rotating auxiliary brushing wheel having a thin cylindrical nappingperiphery for napping the interior surface of said fabric along a linelocated between said flat areas.

10. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a pair of rotating brushes having fiatnapping end faces, exterior means pressing inwardly on said fabric tocause the napping faces of said brushes to engage the interior surfaceof said tubular fabric along a pair of separated flat areas thereof, anda rotating auxiliary brushing wheel having a cylindrical nappingperiphery for napping the interior surface of said fabric along a linelocated between said flat areas.

11. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a tubularknitted fabric which is continuously moved longitudinally and slowlyrotated at the same time, means to force said fabric inwardly, arotating member inside said fabric having a flat end napping surface forengaging and napping a flat area of said fabric, and a nonrotating brushinside said fabric spaced from said rotary napping member.

12. In an apparatus for napping a continuously helically moving tubularknitted fabric, a rotating flat surfaced napping member engaging andnapping said fabric along a flat area thereof, means for forcing saidfabric against the flat surface of said napping member, and a non-rotarynapping member spaced longitudinally from said rotating napping memberfor smoothly brushing the surface of said fabric.

13. In an apparatus for napping a tubular knitted fabric which iscontinuously rotatable and movable in a longitudinal direction, acentral vertical supporting bar, a horizontal driving shaft passingthrough said bar, a pair of interior fabric supporting rings below saidshaft, a pair of napping members mounted to rotate on horizontal axesbetween said rings, means to press said fabric inwardly against saidnapping members, said members having outer flat surfaces adapted to napthe interior surface of said fabric along a pair of flat areas, andmeans operated by said shaft for continuously rotating both of saidmembers.

14. In an apparatus for napping a tubular knitted fabric which iscontinuously rotatable and movable in a longitudinal direction, acentral vertical supporting bar, a horizontal driving shaft passingthrough said bar, a pair of interior fabric supporting rings below saidshaft, a pair of napping members mounted to rotate on horizontal axesbetween said rings, means to press said fabric inwardly against saidnapping members, said members having outer flat surfaces adapted to napthe interior surface of said fabric along a pair of flat areas, andmeans operated by said shaft for continuously rotating both of saidmembers, said upper supporting ring being stationary, and said lowersupporting ring being rotatable on said central bar with said fabric.

15, In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a longitudinallytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a central supporting bar, a rotatingbrush having a flat end napping surface for engaging a flat area of saidfabric, and an auxsaid fabric, said brush and wheel being mounted .torotate in bearings supported by said central bar, and 'means'to presssaid fabric inwardly against said brush and napping wheel.

16. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a longitudinallytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a vertical central supporting bar, ahorizontal driving shaft, a rotating brush journaled on a horizontalaxis and having a fiat end napping surface, and an auxiliary nappingwheel having a cylindrical napping periphery adapted to rotate in thedirection of movement of said fabric, and belt and pulley meansconnecting said driving shaft with said brush and said napping wheel torotate the same.

17. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a continuouslytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a rotating fiat-ended member havingnapping means on its flat end surface, means to press said fabricagainst said member to engage the interior surface of said tubularfabric along a fiat area thereof, and means for adjusting the pressureof said napping member against said fabric.

18. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a tubularknitted fabric which is continuously moved longitudinally and slowlyrotated at the same time, means to press said fabric inwardly, atwisting member having a flat end napping surface for engaging andnapping a flat area of said fabric, a non-twisting brush spacedvertically from said rotary napping member, and means to adjust thepressure of said non-twisting brush upon said fabric.

19. In an apparatus for napping the interior surface of a longitudinallytraveling tubular knitted fabric, a central supporting bar, means topress said fabric inwardly, a rotating brush having a fiat end nappingsurface for engaging a flat area of said fabric, and an auxiliarynapping Wheel within said fabric having a cylindrical napping peripheryadapted to engage a vertical line of said fabric, said brush and wheelbeing mounted to rotate in bearings supported by said central bar, andmeans to adjust the pressure of said auxiliary napping wheel.

HARRY FLEISHER.

